Building a Self-Sustaining Ecosystem through Agile Coaching

September 19, 2012

I was recently fortunate enough to attend the Culture Conference in both Philadelphia and Boston. Even more so, I was able to enjoy the company, conversation and new relationships as a member of the party bus that traveled between the two conferences.

As we drove over the George Washington Bridge, I was having a conversation with Dan Mezick about the role of Agile Coaching in ethical billing and creating learning organizations. I’m a firm believer in the idea that as Agile Coaches, we should strive to foster an environment of organic learning and prescribe specific solutions only when absolutely necessary.

As Dan and I were talking, it occurred to me that an Agile Coach has a similar role to a planted aquarium hobbyist. One can think of a typical organization as a poorly maintained aquarium. There are frequent algae blooms, some of the fish have died, and the plants have discolored leaves and weak roots.

If handed over to an accomplished aquarium hobbyist, they would start by measuring chemical levels in the water to asses the environment. With continuous checking, day by day and week by week, our hobbyist would slowly adjust and improve the balance in the tank. They might add or remove certain plants, invertebrates or fish. Over time, as a result of their actions, the aquarium would achieve a state of balance and the inhabitants would enjoy a harmonious co-existence.

Similarly, an Agile Coach might enter a dysfunctional organization and begin measuring and improving the organizational environment. Again, like the hobbyist, they would help the organization adjust its culture such that it too could become a thriving, self-sustaining ecosystem where the inhabitants live in balance and harmony.

This isn’t to say that once this state is achieved, the coaches work is finished. Just as the hobbyist needs to maintain the aquarium by adding and removing plants or fish, an organization committed to continuous improvement needs the help of the coach to keep learning and improving.

As Agile Coaches, I hope that we strive to build self-sustaining learning organizations rather than insert ourselves as linchpins in the ecosystem. I strive for the self-awareness to ask of myself “Am I just adding chemicals or am I helping the roots grow deeper and fish prosper?”

About Clayton Lengel-Zigich

Clayton Lengel-Zigich is an agile team leader, speaker and software developer in Scottsdale, Arizona.